Prisoner Of Love

PRISONER OF LOVE

Princess Carolyn had been sitting in this prison of life for longer than she could remember. She'd long ago given up any hope for rescue since she'd been told her 'knights in shining armor' had all been killed by Excelsior, the guardian dragon of the castle. Her captors would sometimes still tease her when bringing her meager rations to her station at the top of the dark and foreboding tower:

"Carolyn, you should have seen how Excelsior fried those knights even before they got to the drawbridge!" they'd say. "Why, once they saw how huge he was, they just froze on their steeds, and then Excelsior would smile his toothy grin, take a deep breath, and then let out a roar of fire!"

The princess didn't know if they were telling the truth or not, but she had no reason not to believe them. Nobody had come to her rescue, and her future looked very bleak. She consigned herself to living out her days trapped in this miserable life! And at 52 years old, there weren't many days left!

But one day right after the princess's 56th birthday a little bird appeared at her lone window carrying a note in its beak. Carolyn carefully took the note from the bird and read it.

‘My beloved Carolyn, please don’t believe your captors about all hope being lost! Granted, many of the brave knights who risked their lives trying to save you were baked alive in their metal suits, but I, your Prince Valiant, have not! Tonight there is a full moon, and at the stroke of midnight I will arrive to take you away from that terrible life, and we will live happily ever after in a little white cottage with a white picket fence and have many, many children and many, many grandchildren, and you will do all of the housework and cook all the meals and—’

Carolyn immediately ripped the note to shreds. If Prince Valiant thought he was going to have a ‘Suzy Homemaker’ for a wife, he was sorely mistaken! The princess went to the window and gazed out across the moat. There he was, her one and only true love, the one she yearned for, the one she really wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

But sadly, it was just a dream.

Excelsior didn’t even know she was alive.